Hi! This year was my first year in NHS and i’ve been having problems with it since the beginning. First, I never got any emails from the coordinator and as a result, didn’t attend the fall meeting or pay my dues(as I had no idea when these things were happening, and to be honest, forgot about NHS since i hadn’t heard anything about it since last april)
After hearing from friends and talking to them about NHS meetings and realizing I wasn’t getting invited, I went and talked to the coordinator. We discovered that the email address she had was wrong, I paid my dues, everything was fine. Then about a month ago, she emails me to tell me that I need to complete a service project for the year. Unfortunately, you hve to choose one of their service projects, you can’t volunteer wherever. But since I had never gotten any emails from them, I missed all the service project opportunities. I told her this, and she said my only option was to try and volunteer at this city-run place.
I say great and immediately email them. However, all their orientations were at noon on school days. I emailed the lady from the volunteer place, and she told me my only option was to come in the summer, which I couldn’t do because NHS needed the service project this year.
As a result of this, I’ve been “dismissed” from the NHS. I feel that this is unfair to be honest, but I don’t want to try and bargain my case with the coordinator as this whole experience has been a nightmare. I was wondering, how important is NHS?
In the grand scheme of things, not very.
To quote Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest: “Ah, but nobody ever said life was fair, Tina.”
Well, that’s good, because you’re clearly in the wrong. Most NHS chapters have a service component, so that should not have come as a major surprise.
I find skieurope’s post to be quite rude. A lot of high school students have been “brainwashed” (for lack of a better term) to think that NHS is the end-all-be-all of college admissions. Joining NHS is perceived as being necessary for admission into college, but that perception isn’t true. Skieurope’s terse post doesn’t help the situation.
First, OP, let me say that I was in a very similar situation to yours. I was a regular NHS member for 1/2 of my sophomore year and an officer (Secretary) in my junior year. I had health problems in my second semester which resulted in me being in the hospital for over a week and struggling to keep up with academics and ECs. My NHS sponsor developed this weird, personal vendetta against me. She called me irresponsible and complained about me to other officers during an officer meeting during which I was not present - because I was in the hospital. Furthermore, she gave me the responsibility of keeping track of 70+ members’ community service hours even though that was her job, and even the slightest mess-up would send her in a rage and, at one point, she even contacted my parents and my administration. I ended up losing my officer position when I ran for re-election to a first-year member with no qualifications, and I quit the club in the first semester of my senior year because I was tired of the corruption and obvious favoritism. Long story short, NHS sponsors are bad.
If you’re truly passionate about remaining in NHS, talking to an admin at your school and explain your situation because it sounds like your sponsor is unreasonable. Perhaps you could be put on probationary status for next year and have to complete two service projects instead of one? Otherwise, let it go. It’s really not worth it in the end.
@skieurope I was not surprised to know there was a service component. I was not given a chance to partake in one, which is why I was surprised to be “dismissed” for not doing one.
I think I am right to feel that this is unfair. the coordinator was using the wrong email and as a result of this I have not been given the same chances as everyone else.
@Leafex thank you for the response. I think I’m just going to let it go. I’m not applying to any super competitive colleges, I doubt it will have any impact.
NHS is really pretty meaningless in the admissions process. Don’t worry about it. Just do what you want to do for ECs next year.
I find skieurope’s post to be quite succinct.
NHS requires very little to get accepted into. As an EC, it doesn’t really mean much. Something actually very interesting I saw linked on a post was about how admissions view EC’s. It talked about how basic human psychology of assessing accomplishments is by thinking how hard it would be for them to do it. So, NHS doesn’t really mean anything at all in that regard. Obviously EC’s can be still be great if they’re easy to do especially if it goes along with you as a person and if you show commitment to it. I’ve been doing my own volunteer work at the same center since 10th grade and I think that speaks much more than NHS does. To answer your question directly, though, NHS isn’t really important. It’s a dime a dozen.
I don’t think NHS means much in the admissions process.
I actually agree with the favoritism, at least in some schools. When I went to a private school, I was nominated for NHS. I had a higher GPA than almost all the other nominees. I didn’t get accepted because “I wasn’t involved in the school”. Let me note that I was in six clubs in two years, as were the others (our ECs were done as classes). The school was angry because I was transferring, since the work was much too easy, and I was a top student. I think THAT’S why I didn’t get in. I’m still going to a great college, so you’ll be fine!
@blackkitteycat If you were aware that there was a service component , and there is a sponsor at your school, why wait until the end of the school year to inquire about service opportunities? You mention talking to friends , and finding out that you weren’t “invited” to the meetings. If you had already been inducted , you no longer need to be invited to attend a meeting. You are a member; the expectation is for you to attend.Does your school have announcements or post activities on their school’s website? If they do, that may be the place to look for info in the future for ECs and requirements.
@carolinamom2boys Hi, thanks for the response. At my school, you are invited to the meetings. I hadn’t known the meeting had occurred until i spoke to my friends. No, they don’t post things on the school website since they don’t want people not in NHS to attend. They only communicate through email, and since I never received any, I had no idea about anything regarding NHS, including the service projects. This is why I waited until the end of the year, I never got any of the emails about what to do for service projects, so I couldn’t do one until I received an email.
@newjerseygirl98 @superbowser12 Thank you for the response! I’m glad to hear that NHS isn’t as necessary as some people believe.
NHS is not really that important in the long run as long as you have other meaningful activities to put in its place. I did not put NHS on my college app and I still got into colleges. Honestly I think the situation largely the error of the advisor because they were not an effective communicator. At the very least you should be allowed an alternative opportunity to complete the service component. If you are adamant about it, you can try and make the case to them but like I said in the long run not a big deal
@blackkitteycat That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t approach the sponsor earlier in the year to inquire about meetings. According to an earlier post, you were aware that there was a service project requirement .You were aware of who the sponsor was , and you waited until the end of the year to address the issue. When you get into college, the responsibility shifts to the student to ensure they understand deadlines and responsibilities a class or group involves. In the future , it will be important for you to follow up in a timely manner to make sure that you don’t miss important deadlines.
I assume the OP learned a lesson about following up sooner when things don’t seem to be happening for something where they would expect communication. But this in no way damages their college application. if you have solid other ECs, you could even leave it off.
@intparent I agree that I would leave it off the application.
@superbowser12 Perhaps you read Cal Newports idea of the “Failed Simulation Effect”? And I definitely think it’s an interesting idea.
@carolinamom2boys @intparent Yeah, I did learn a lesson.I take full responsibility in that, I should have followed up earlier. To be honest, I forgot about NHS since I never heard anything about it.
I’m sure you’ll do fine with your applications @blackkitteycat . Good luck.
Hello! NHS president here! We kicked out a bunch of kids this year who never attended a single meeting. Some of them came to us to say they never got notifications and our response was it is their responsibility to check meeting dates. Of course many got angry but again i told them that they shouldn’t have waited til the end of the year to come ask me why they didn’t get notifications and that meeting dates were always announced the day before. So yeah. But don’t worry NHS isn’t what admission officers look for anyway. It’s just something nice to be in.